THE AMERICAN BISONS. 63 



greater. When well under way, and with a good start, it takes a fleet horse 

 to overtake them, their speed being much greater than one would suppose 

 from simply watching their movements from a distance, their gait being a 

 rather clumsy, lumbering gallop. When pursued, or when urged on by 

 thirst, rough ground and a tumble now and then seem to scarcely retard 

 their progress, they plunging headlong down the steep sides of ravines, and 

 resuming their course up the opposite slope as if they had found the ravine 

 no obstacle to their progress. When thirsty, in order to get at streams or 

 springs, they will often leap down vertical banks where it would be impos- 

 sible to urge a horse, and will even descend precipitous rocky bluffs by paths 

 where a man could only climb down with difficulty, and where it would 

 seem almost impossible for a beast of their size and structure to pass except at 

 the cost of broken limbs or a broken neck. On the bluffs of the Musselshell 

 River I found places where they had leaped down bare ledges three or four feet 

 in height with nothing but ledges of rocks for a landing-place ; sometimes, 

 too, through passages between high rocks but little wider than the thickness 

 of their own bodies, with also a continuous precipitous descent for many feet 

 below. Nothing in their history ever surprised me more than this revelation 

 of their expertness and fearlessness in climbing* Ordinarily, bowever, the 

 buffalo shows commendable sagacity in respect to his choice of routes, usu- 

 ally choosing the easiest grades and the most direct courses, so that a buffalo 

 trail can be depended upon as affording the most feasible road possible 

 through the region it traverses. 



When moving in large bands across the plains their course is often plainly 

 marked by the column of dust they raise, even when the animals themselves 

 are far beyond sight, the scene calling to mind the passage of a distant troop 

 of cavalry at full speed, or a heavy train of army wagons. The presence of 

 a herd to the windward of the observer, even if a mile or two distant, can 

 usually be detected by the peculiar odor that arises from it, especially dur- 

 ing the rutting season. At this time, too, the roaring of the bulls can often 

 be heard when the animals are miles away, and hidden, perchance, by inter- 

 vening swells of the prairie, particularly at night, or when the air is still. 

 Few things make a more vivid or lasting impression — and one that at the 

 time is often far from agreeable — upon the mind of the traveller, encamped 

 far out on the open prairie, than the roar and tramp of an approaching herd 

 of buffaloes, especially at night-time. Nothing, again, is more pleasantly 



* On this point see further Dr. Coues's communication given in Part II. 



